5th January - A Thought...

Today is the 5th January, the new year is 5 days old, although it is only 5 days in, it seems to have been 2008 for a long time now...........

Tomorrow is the 6th, for the religious types this is Twelth Night. It is meant to be the day that the 3 Wisemen made it to Bethlehem to see Jesus and present him with Frankincense, Myrrh and Gold. I am sure a baby wouldn't know what it was and probably the parents would have preferred Mothercare vouchers or some sort of snowsuit, but hey who are we to question this?!!

In the West we are supposed to celebrate this day and also use it as a signal that the Christmas festivities are ending. Tradition would say that any decorations left up after this date become mischevious spirits, and worse these decorations need to now be left up until Easter. What state will the Tree be in by then??

But my thought, or question is just a query -

Officially the end of Christmas is tomorrow, however how many of us have waited until then? Retail would have us believe that Boxing Day is a good day for the sales to start and thus the season to change. How many of us have had enough of decorations and cards and over the last few days these have been taken down stored for another year and the house "de-Christmased".

Now i love Christmas as much as anyone, and for me the build up really begins around the end of October as the rush towards December really begins. However, even I had begun to suffer from fatigue by Christmas Day and by the middle of last week enough was enough. When my decorations came down today (5th December) it was with relief and not my usual sadness that things were stored away.

Now i know i could rant on and on about this, but, i have a theory. If someone like me who views Christmas as a glimmer to hold on to and a time ahead that is getting closer, is fatigued by it all what chance do we have?

I think this air of fatigue has been born from the way Christmas is now approached. It is started earlier and earlier each year. A certain landmark shop in Knightsbridge opens their Christmas shop at the start of August. By early September the supermarkets are well along the Christmas trail and all of the catalogues are arriving. The shopping channels are showing Christmas programmes and if cards aren't ordered by now it may be too late!! Lots of Christmas items needed are now "out of stock."

I think this massively (and growing) prolonged season is the reason that by December everyone has had enough, by Christmas itself people have lost interest (or the will to live!!) and by New Year all that everyone wants is to get back to work and get on with things!!

Twelth Night is forgotten and decorations are long gone.

The real question though, is to ask if this speeding us is wrong? Should Christmas become a burden after a few days or should it be looked forwards to and clung onto?

If things stayas they are it will be a burden for ever more and as the season starts earlier each year it will become, eventually, a non-event.

Or should we view Christmas as it is meant to be, a few days "off the roundabout" a few days to think of each other, family and friends. This is not a religious thought, just one of reality. Is Christmas a time for each other, strangers or not, when actually a smile to someone else will not hurt, and, because at Christmas we don't have pretence, may provide a glow that lasts through the coldest winter and into a warm summer.

So i say do not start Christmas in August, do not feel brassed off by November, do not ignore the Festivities after January 1st. Tomorrow is the end of Christmas, say farewell with a laugh and a cheer. Enjoy Twelth Night, become the King and Queen for the day.

January and February are bleak but stuff still happens, next week(ish) is Wassail, then it is Shrove Tuesday. Valentines Day and then Easter will raise its head. So make the most of crisp mornings and early evenings by a fire. Walk in the woods, dance by the fire. Drink warm drinks and remember the nice things whilst looking ahead to warm balmy days of summer.

And amongst all, after tomorrow, don't plan or think about planning next Christmas until the END OF OCTOBER!!!!!